Soccer/Worldscene: Towards the end of last December, Frenchman Claude Le Roy, coach to the Democratic Republic of Congo, resorted to a familiar old trick.
He invited more than 1,000 young footballers, aged between 17 and 21, to a week-long coaching session at Kinshasa's Stade des Martyrs.
Le Roy is an old hand when it comes to African football, having coached the national sides of both Cameroon and Senegal in the 1980s and '90s. Five months before the France '98 World Cup finals, he had issued a similar invitation to young Cameroon players as he desperately searched for talent to add to his national squad.
Le Roy's his talent-spotting sights are fixed not so much on the Germany 2006 finals as on the Africa 2010 ones. Indeed, with a view to preparing the next generation of Congolese talent, he intends to hold a series of these invitational coaching sessions over the coming months.
More immediately, Le Roy can strike an important blow for Congolese football next Sunday when Congo host Ghana in an African Group 2 World Cup qualifier.
Since the heady days of 1974 when DR Congo (then called Zaire) qualified for the Germany '74 World Cup finals, Congolese football has been on a downhill run to nowhere.
That qualification for Germany was hailed as a mighty achievement in that Congo (Zaire) had the distinction of being the first sub-Saharan African country to qualify for a World Cup finals. The celebrations ended there, however, for Zaire got thoroughly drubbed, losing all three first-round games and conceding an embarrassing 14 goals in the process - 0-2 to Scotland, 0-9 to Yugoslavia and 0-3 to Brazil.
In more recent times, the DR Congo team have been plagued by internal disputes, by the loss of one of their star players, striker Jason Mayélé (a player with Chievo in Serie A, killed in a March 2002 car accident) and by the refusal of another star player, Shabani Nonda of Monaco, to turn out for them. Little wonder, then, that not everyone was falling over themselves to take the job of Congo coach. Prior to Le Roy's appointment in August, compatriot Alain Giresse had politely declined an offer to take charge.
Starting as of Sunday in Kinshasa, Le Roy and DR Congo have a chance to underline the recent revival in Congolese fortunes. With five Group 2 games played, Congo are joint second with Ghana just one point behind group leaders South Africa. Le Roy's caution about Germany is understandable, given that only one country qualify for Germany from each of the five African groups (Cape Verde Islands, Burkina Faso and Uganda are the other sides in Group 2).
"Ghana are clearly a very strong team but a win would really help us," said Le Roy recently. "However you look at it, this is our chance to put pressure on South Africa before we play them in the last match."
Like many successful coaches before him, (most recently Otto Rehhagel of Greece) Le Roy's first task on taking charge was to persuade key players to come back and play. Last month, his patient diplomatic work looked to be bearing fruit as Nonda turned out (and scored) in a 2-2 friendly draw with Cote d'Ivoire, a game played in Rouen, France.
Having already beaten South Africa at home and drawn 0-0 away with Ghana, Congo clearly have a chance of glory. They could yet spring a surprise in a group which had been widely seen as a two-way battle between South Africa and Ghana.
Looking through the 77 World Cup qualifiers due to be played over the next 10 days, in places as far apart as La Paz in Bolivia, Dakar in Senegal and the North Korean capital Pyongyang, it is obvious the five African groups are certain to see some famous casualties.
Senegal in Group 1 have a battle on their hands with Zambia and Togo, whilst Cameroon and Egypt are struggling, four and five points respectively behind Cote d'Ivoire in Group 3. Furthermore, Nigeria trail Angola by a point in Group 4, whilst African Nations Cup holders Tunisia are four points adrift of leaders Morocco in Group 5.
Perhaps, Congo will add their name to the list of surprises.
